Fox News Channel

The Fox News Channel is a United Statescable and satellitenews channel that claims to be "fair and balanced" "we report, you decide", while sometimes actually promoting feminism and the homosexual agenda.[1] It is a 24-hour general news service covering breaking news as well as political, business and entertainment news. The average age of its viewership is 74 years old, and even 79 years old for its O'Reilly Factor. Much of Fox News Channel is self-serving "happy talk," telling its elderly audience what it wants to hear, or selling O'Reilly's latest book.

Even pundit Sarah Palin is too conservative for Fox News Channel, as when it canceled some of her interviews at a key political moment in August 2012,[2] and then refused to renew her contract at the end of 2012. Fox negotiated a new contract five months later but generally pushed her off the air.[3]

Founding

The Fox News channel was started in 1996 by Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, who perceived a need for a news organization that offered more balanced and fair reporting, one where the facts from all sides would be presented. Mainstream media "political correctness" was banished. As an example, Fox news anchors call terrorists what they are, (terrorists), instead of referring to them as "militants." As of February, 2007, polls show that over 20% of Americans say their main source of news is the Fox News Channel.

Fox News has dominated the ratings of other cable news outlets.[5] Launched by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and former political consultant Roger Ailes as a refuge for viewers fed up with real or perceived liberal bias everywhere in the so-called "mainstream media", Fox is the undisputed ratings champion of cable news. It's been trouncing CNN, MSNBC and CNBC for years, and draws a much larger audience share than all competitors, including the three major broadcast news shows, combined. It is by far the most profitable news network in the world, on track to earn more than $700 Million in 2010.[6] But the profit motive may cause some of the hostility Fox News has to the conservative positions on important social issues.

Indeed, for over 100 consecutive months, FNC has been the most-watched cable news channel in the country. FNC is available in more than 90 million homes. It is part of the Fox Television Stations Group, a subsidiary of Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Roger Ailes was named Chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group on August 15, 2005. Ailes resigned on July 21, 2016, following a lawsuit alleging sexual harrassment of female employees. Rupert Murdoch is his interim replacement.[7]

Fair and Balanced

Fair And Balanced Logo

Critics have been known to complain about the "Fair & Balanced" slogan. Former President Bill Clinton exploded at Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace in September 2006, accusing him of "a nice little conservative hit job" after being lightly pressed by Wallace about his record on fighting Al Qaeda. Democratic politicians and advocates have relentlessly attacked the cable network, sometimes accusing it of being a Republican propaganda mill. Former Vice-President and environmentalist Al Gore has likened Fox to a right-wing "fifth column." Groups, such as MoveOn.org, funded a classic schlockumentary entitled Outfoxed, which purports to expose the channel's 'nefarious Republican agenda'. Some have referred to FOX News as "the propaganda arm of the Republican Party" or "Faux News." In a grandstanding gesture of political theater the group unsuccessfully petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to stop Fox's from using its slogan as "deceptive advertising". It was unanimously rejected.[8] Fox News spokesman Rob Zimmerman told today's (Tuesday) Wall Street Journal: "If they can attack Fox News to this extreme, then all news organizations are at risk to be targeted by similar attacks. ... It's best to ignore nuts."

A recent comprehensive study by UCLA political scientist Tim Groseclose and University of Missouri-Columbia economics professor Jeffrey Milyo found Brit Hume's Special Report — Fox's most straightforward news show — more centrist than any of the three major networks' evening newscasts, all of which are liberal.[9] The program is a model of smart news television.

Although it is true that the Fox's opinion shows (as opposed to its news shows) are, as they're supposed to be, frequently bombastic and opinionated; it is equally true that Fox's biggest super-star, Bill O'Reilly is not a mainstream Republican, but a registered Independent who sides with conservatives. He regularly charges the oil companies with price-gouging and attacks big business for quashing the little guy. Greta Van Susteren's politics are unclear, as she mostly covers the crime-of-the-day stories. Geraldo Rivera is traditionally liberal on most issues, with the exception of being a strong supporter of the military and stiff penalties for sex offenders.

Some liberal commentators, such as news analyst Marvin Kalb, and Eleanor Clift, are affiliated with the channel. In general, Fox News is closer to mainstream America than CBS, ABC, NBC or CNN, its founding mission.

Fox News Liberals

Fox News is accused of being blatantly biased towards the right, during its supposedly non-partisan news reports. These false accusations stem from alleged injection of opinion in news stories, selectively preventing liberals a chance to be represented on the channel, and support for high ranking Republican Party members. Opponents to this theory cite the fact that Fox News parent company News Corp. overwhelmingly donates campaign contributions to Democrats[12] and is the 9th biggest fundraiser of the Clintons, estimated at $3 million over 23 years.[13] The Fox News network employs the following liberals among others:

A 2009 national survey showed that 46% of those who watch FOX News “just about every day” are Democrats or Independents. Dick Morris interpreted the numbers and determines, "Could it be that the Obama Administration is concerned about FOX News not because it is 'an arm of the Republican Party' but because it is so widely seen among Democrats and Independents?"[14]

The Five

The show that replaced Glenn Beck's ratings dominance is 'The Five', described as a “roundtable ensemble of five rotating FOX personalities...."[15]

Ratings Dominance

Fox News Channel was the 2nd highest rated cable channel on all of television during the first quarter of 2009 in prime time Total Viewers. CNN was 17th and MSNBC 24th for the first three months of the year. FNC beat CNN and MSNBC combined and gained the most compared to the first quarter of 2008, up 24%. 2009's first quarter was FNC's 3rd highest rated quarter in prime time in the network's history — just behind Q4 '08 and Q3 '05. In prime time, ages 25–54 demo, and in total day in both categories, FNC grew more year-to-year than CNN and MSNBC combined. FNC had nine of the top 10 programs on cable news in Total Viewers.

The O'Reilly Factor has now been #1 on cable news for 100 consecutive months, up 27% in Total Viewers year-over-year. [Citation Needed]

Glenn Beck dominated the ratings before leaving the network in June 2011. Beck broke every single record for the 5 P.M. time slot. The leftist mob learned to hate him with a passion and Center For American Progress' senior fellow Van Jones is taking credit for Beck's retirement.

April 2009 statistics showed three new programs beat CNN and MSNBC combined in total viewers during their respective time slots.

On the Record with Greta Van Susteren is up 55% in total viewers and 75% in the demo. Your World with Neil Cavuto is up 60% in Total Viewers and 102% in the demo. Glenn Beck, is up 212% in the demo and up 128% in total viewers.[16]

Fox News Canada

Liberals have successfully painted Fox News as being blocked in Canada because of laws against lying, the premise is false. While they don't operate in Canada because of the legal tactics of direct competitor and wholly-owned government entity Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Fox News does broadcast their channel by selling programs to Canadian third party independent media firms like Bell, Rogers and 20 other companies.[17]

Anti-elitist

Conservatives argue that Fox's real ethos is not Republican or conservative, but anti-elitist — a major reason it connects with so many Americans and annoys so many coastal elites. "There's a whole country that elitists will never acknowledge," Ailes once observed. "What people resent deeply out there are those in the 'blue states' thinking they're smarter." This anti-elitism shows itself in Fox's pro-U.S. stance in covering the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and its broadcasters' use of terms such as "terrorist" instead of the politically correct "militant" to refer to terrorists. Since the Vietnam War era, mainstream journalists have tended to see such blunt language and side-taking as unsophisticated, a betrayal of journalistic objectivity, or perhaps their own ingrained biases against government in general.

Another aspect of Fox's anti-elitism is the treatment of evangelical and fundamentalist Christians with respect, far from the normal liberal media's depiction as lunatics or extremists. "We regularly have on the Rev. Franklin Graham, Dr. James Dobson and other religious leaders, just as we put on Pat Ireland and Eleanor Clift," Ailes said, continuing, "Most Americans believe in God and have that as their foundation in life. So why shouldn't we have as guests people that they like, respect and want to hear from?" Ailes said he didn't get "too worked up" by a Pew Foundation study that showed that Fox has more Republican viewers than CNN, CNBC or MSNBC and that his reporters and anchors insert their opinions into stories far more than competitors do. Numbers might have something to do with it: Fox is beating the combined audience of the other three. But Ailes dismissed Pew as a "liberal lobbying organization." He said, "Most polls today are not taken to provide information to the public but to get press for the organization taking the polls. I took a poll of Pew, and 98% of my organization found that they were biased", Ailes said with a wink.[18]

In response, Project director Tom Rosenstiel said the study "was not a poll. It was a content analysis designed by a four-university research team and executed at the University of Alabama." One plus for Fox, he said, was that researchers found Fox News stories were more forthcoming about sourcing than their cable rivals.[18]

Fringe views versus Fox News

"What really frustrates liberals about Fox, though, is simply that, along with talk radio and the conservative blogosphere, it has helped shatter the left's near-monopoly on news and information. Fox's opinion-driven programming gives conservatives and liberals a chance to get a fair hearing for their ideas. But Democratic politicians and activists who go on Fox also must defend their views, often against tough questioning, something that happens less often on the networks, where most journalists are left-of-center, survey after survey has shown", said columnist Brian Anderson. "Even more significant, Fox came on the scene a decade ago as a professional news organization that could define and report news as something different from what the elite consensus says it is. To take one of many examples, the corruption of the United Nations' oil-for-food initiative in Iraq, initially downplayed by the mainstream media because of their sympathy for internationalism, was uncovered — deemed newsworthy — on Fox."

All this wouldn't matter if Fox News wasn't so influential. But it is. According to the Pew Research Center, more than 20% of Americans now claim to get news from it, and lots of them (37%) are Democrats or independents. The network's success has also sparked a "Fox effect," leading some competitors to become more open to right-of-center opinions: MSNBC's "Scarborough Country," hosted by former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough, is a prime example. Until a few years ago, Democrats never had to deal with all these conservatives in the media.[5]

Ailes said Fox News has no agenda. His charge to his reporters and anchors is simple: "If you make a mistake, get on the air as fast as you can and admit it. ... Do your homework. Make sure you reach out to a point of view you don't agree with to be sure you have some balance in your piece, because journalists, despite the public perception, are not empty-headed fools. They actually come to the job with some ideas and biases." When asked whether the media have a "conscious bias," Ailes said: "I don't know whether it's conscious or not. I think people who are biased to the left and right are by and large honest people who bring their life experience to whatever their beliefs are. I don't think there's some conspiracy of bias to the left, but I do think that New York and Los Angeles have different views than many people that I know from other parts of the country."[18]

Obama Administration versus Fox News

Barack Hussein Obama has thin skin when it comes to criticism of his policies. The entire mainstream media has thrown its support to Obama and refuses to questions his policies. Fox News is the lone station that will criticize Obama fairly. Obama said,[19]

“

“I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration... That’s a pretty big megaphone. You’d be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front.”

”

The President has praised MSNBC and berated Fox News. Considering that MSNBC devoted itself to attacking George W Bush and his administration, this is hypocritical on Obama's part. To sum it up, all other major news networks have let themselves become servile heralds of the liberal agenda, while Fox news is the only station that will call Obama out on anything he does.

Media critic David Zurawik said “Thank goodness at least one TV outlet, Fox, is questioning Team Obama as it pushes for the kind of massive change in American life not seen since the era of Franklin Roosevelt,” and "...ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and the others allow their news operations to be used by the White House for partisan political reasons."

Fox News versus Conservatives

Popular opinion programming is skewed in favor of voices from establishment Republican, RINO members. This is most evident with their guest speakers such as Karl Rove. You'll never hear Fox use the words liberal Republican or RINO. The most liberal members of the Republican party are labeled moderates.[20] Fox News will occasionally follow stories about the Tea Party movement however they prefer to air the liberal side prominently, airing outright lies from liberals. Rush Limbaugh claimed Fox News wouldn't let him talk about immigration issues and preferred to control the narrative, also known as censorship.[21] Republican RINO leadership such as John McCain, Lindsey Graham and others love the spotlight of a camera and Fox News is there for them.

Fox News makes sure to hammer conservative guests. In September 2013, Fox's Chris Wallace claimed that establishment Republicans gave him opposition research against conservative Ted Cruz in his fight to defund Obamacare.[22] Wallace has refused calls for him to release names. Nearly every host and guest, with the exception of Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, spread the establishment surrender message that the GOP can't win the defunding fight.

In the aftermath for the November 5th, 2013 race for governor, many Fox articles speak about RINO Chris Christie and the implications of his victory. Nothing at all about Ken Cuccinelli being abandoned by the establishment D.C. GOP despite a strong focus from talk radio. Cuccinelli almost pulled off the upset victory, yet no Fox coverage.

After David Brat knocked off House Majority leader Eric Cantor, Fox News commentators took to the air with glum faces of disbelief and dour reactions. Brit Hume said the David Brat win will help Democrats and hurt the GOP.[23]

The news all over the conservative sphere talks about how the GOP used voter fraud, lies, and Democrats, in a Republican primary runoff to defeat Chris McDaniels in Mississippi. Fox News gave the controversy barely a mention the day after and nothing since. This despite story after story of fraud, race-baiting robocalls and fliers unearthed. One county with a 1,000 illegal ballots cast and 9 other counties refusing the McDaniel campaign from looking at the voter books.

Many speakers gave the CPAC 2015 crowd a strong conservative message. Yet the 'Latest News' on Fox is Jeb Bush's CPAC speech. A favorite of beltway establishment Republicans/lobbyists but the least conservative at the conference.

Roger Ailes

Roger Ailes, Fox News CEO

This is a transcript of Ailes speaking to the Television Critics Association, which will be enlightening to readers digging into the Fox take on reporting and its reaction to controversy about its mission.

On November 20, 2008, Roger Ailes, who now holds the titles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, FOX News and Chairman of FOX Television Stations, signed a new five-year contract with News Corporation, it was announced by Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The contract will pay him over 23 million dollars in 2009.[24]

During Ailes' time with News Corp, FNC passed CNN in ratings in all day parts in 2002 to become the number one news network in the country, nearing full distribution with more than 90 million subscribers. In 2007, he launched the Fox Business Channel which currently reaches more than 40 million homes and served as the biggest launch in cable television history. Throughout Mr. Ailes' tenure, FOX Television Stations has increased its market share each of the last three years with all-time record shares in the last two years. In addition, Fox Television Stations has expanded its local news presence by nearly 100 hours a week in a challenging economic climate.

“

At a time when the broadcast networks are struggling with diminishing audiences and profits in news, he has built Fox News into the profit engine of the News Corporation. Fox News is believed to make more money than CNN, MSNBC and the evening newscasts of NBC, ABC and CBS combined. The division is on track to achieve $700 million in operating profit this year, according to analyst estimates[6]

”

In a December 2013 interview by Hollywood Reporter, Ailes was talking about MSNBC no longer being in the news business and then said,

“

For CNN to also throw in the towel and announce they’re out of the news business is quite interesting.

”

This upset rival CNN President Jeff Zucker greatly and he lashed back that the GOP runs Fox News.[25]

In an April 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ailes said[26]

“

I flip to MSNBC occasionally to make sure their blind pig didn’t find an acorn. But they never have once.

”

and

“

I don’t watch much CNN, they got out of the news business in primetime. But I look to see if they have a good documentary or movie. If they do, I’ll watch that.

”

Tony Snow

In April, 2006 the G. W. Bush White House selected Tony Snow, Fox News Anchorman, to be the new White House Press Secretary. "Snow, who in his roles as a pundit on Fox News and elsewhere has rapped Bush on several occasions, joined the White House only after extracting a promise that he would become an adviser to the president on day-to-day strategy...the former columnist will be the first outsider to become part of Bush's revamped inner circle.", said the Washington Post.[27]

Snow, 50, worked most recently as host for Fox News Sunday, with Tony Snow and as host of his own radio talk show. He was a director of speech-writing for President George H.W. Bush and has worked as a USA Today columnist, Editorial Page Editor of the Washington Times, deputy editorial page editor of the Detroit News and frequent substitute for radio host Rush Limbaugh.[28] Snow died July 12, 2008, after an unsuccessful battle with colon cancer.

Bill O'Reilly

The O'Reilly Factor has been the most watched cable news segment for eight years. Bill O'Reilly has interviewed Barack Obama and other high profile guests on his show.

"FOX News destroys NBC and CNN on cable every night. We cover the news. We don't ignore it. And we don't denigrate it." - Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly is a registered independent, but sides with Republicans on most issues, excluding several Christian causes. Bill O'Reilly wrote the best seller "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity." Like Sean Hannity and other commentators on Fox, O'Reilly's role is that of an independent contractor, expressing his own opinions, not those of Fox News, as opposed to the networks news anchors, like Shepard Smith.

Sarah Palin

The network confirmed in January 2010 that the former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin had signed a multiyear contract to appear on the news station periodically. Potentially in a format similar to LtCol (ret) Oliver L. North's "War stories" documentary series.[29]

Palin left in January 2013 looking to take her message to a "larger audience", but returned as a political commentator under a new contract in June 2013.[3]

Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld

Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld is a hybrid news / comedic satire show hosted by atheist Greg Gutfeld. The show appears on Fox News at 3:00 a.m. EST on weekdays. Their ratings are remarkable for the time slot.[30]

“

The ratings came out for September and Red Eye is up over 30% in total viewers and up 50% in the key demo (25-54) since July. They have more overall viewers than every CNBC show, every MSNBC show that is on before Hardball, most of HLN, and American Morning on CNN.

”

September 2010 marks the third anniversary of RedEye w/ Greg Gutfeld. It was noted that their rating for 3:00 a.m. EST beat out CNN,

“

This time, the show had better ratings in the A25-54 demographic than Campbell Brown at 8pmET and Larry King at 9pmET, and tied Anderson Cooper at 10pmET (Monday-Thursday).

Fox News is a regular exhibitor at these annual Job Fairs. News Corp sponsored the opening reception for first time attendees in 2006, as well as sponsoring workshops on Journalism in various colleges in 2007.[31]

Media organizations which underwrote the convention included NBC News, Times Inc., Turner Broadcasting, Knight-Ridder, the Washington Post and Fox News Network. That’s right - Fox News. This is supposed to be a conservative network. ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, and USA Today all sent recruiters to the event, to hire open gays as journalists. Fitzpatrick comments, "By treating the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association as a legitimate counterpart to black and Hispanic journalists’ associations, these media organizations showed that they agree with the notion that homosexuals, a group defined by behavior rather than immutable characteristics, constitute a bona fide minority."[36]

On February 11, 2004, Bill O'Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, featured Kevin Jennings, the executive director of GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.) Jennings, former teacher turned homosexual activist, along with a lesbian counterpart, discussed GLSEN's new pro-homosexual curriculum on marriage being marketed to children and youth in public schools all across America under the guise of "tolerance."...

O'Reilly, watched heavily by conservatives and Christians alike, shocked much of his constituency on September 3, 2002 when he publicly announced his support of homosexual rights in the nation's largest “gay” publication, The Advocate. His sympathetic, lenient views on “gay” adoption and his mixed-message stance on “gay” marriage have caused great dissent among his loyalists - and no doubt cost him viewers.[37]

”

WorldNetDaily stated the following regarding O'Reilly and his exchange with the ex-homosexual and evangelical minister Stephen Bennett:

“

Fox News is threatening to sue a prominent evangelical minister in the ex-homosexual movement who engaged in a volatile exchange over biblical morality on the top-rated television program "The O'Reilly Factor" in September.

Stephen Bennett, who says he left his homosexual lifestyle nearly 11 years ago, has distributed a 60-minute audio tape program called the "The O'Reilly Shocker," in which he responds to host Bill O'Reilly's characterization of people who take the Bible literally as "religious fanatics.".

Bennett said he has received hundreds of e-mails from viewers of the segment who said they were outraged at O'Reilly's "anger and verbal abuse."[38]

”

In response to the threatened lawsuit of the Fox News Channel the Agape Press reported:

“

But Mike DePrimo, senior litigation counsel for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, which represents Bennett, says Bennett has a right to distribute a recording of the program -- and that his use of the tape is legal under copyright law's allowance of fair use and comment.

"The law provides that even copyrighted material may be used, provided it's used not for commercial gain but for comment," DePrimo says. "Stephen Bennett used the material from the O'Reilly show simply to rebut the arguments O'Reilly put forward."

The attorney implies there may be another reason the popular O'Reilly wants distribution of the tape stopped -- and it has to do with image. "O'Reilly promotes himself as a conservative," DePrimo explains. "In fact, Bennett's tape shows that O'Reilly is simply another media elite who's advancing the homosexual agenda -- and he doesn't want to be exposed for what he is."[39]

”

Bill O'Reilly describes himself as a practicing Roman Catholic[40] According to the Vatican individuals should not engage in homosexual acts as they are acts of serious depravity.[41]

Peter LaBarbera Concerning Fox News and homosexuality

How fascinating that Wayne Besen (left) is given the opportunity to appear on FOX News, of all places..., to critique alleged “homophobic” attitudes and speech toward homosexuals — when he has such a well-deserved reputation for being one of the nastiest “queer” activists in the business.[42]

Temple U. Professor Dr. Marc Lamont Hill (left), a frequent guest on FOX News, believes Americans are “homophobic” because most still don’t like to see homosexuality (compared to heterosexuality) on TV or the big screen. We say Prof. Hill should get off his liberal high horse and stop lecturing Americans for their normal reaction to unnatural and immoral behavior....

Enough already. Gay sex is wrong, unhealthy (especially between men), and my hunch is it’s still pretty off-putting to most FOX viewers who are honest with themselves. And that’s OK. But I’ll go further: if there is a growing acceptance of homo-sexual behavior, especially among young people, that’s not a good thing but a sign of America’s descent into decadence, and our departure from a transcendent Judeo-Christian moral code that has served this nation well.[43]

Fox News and Wal-mart are among the high-level ($10,000) sponsors of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association’s (NLGJA) 2006 Convention in Miami (Sept 7-10 at Loew’s Miami Beach Hotel). Every year, the NLGJA garners hundreds of thousands of dollars in Big Media sponsorships for its convention; this year it appears (based on the sponsorship list below) that the total is around half a milliion dollars in corporate support...

Our question for Fox News executives is: if you are truly “fair and balanced,” will you now give an equal and corresponding grant to Americans for Truth or another pro-family organization, say, Accuracy in Media, that counters the ubiquitous pro-”gay” spin in the media? We’ll be awaiting your answer.[44]

Slated reported in 2008 that since 1997, Republicans have received a slight majority - 56% of the $4.76 million in campaign donations from the Murdoch family and the News Corporation's political action committees and employees.[46] However, Slate also reported in 2008: "Since Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 elections, the company and its employees have given more than twice as much to Democrats as to Republicans."[46] Generally speaking, Republicans have less favorable views and policies concerning homosexuality than Democrats.[47] The Pew Research Center reported in 2010: "In broad terms, voters view the Democratic Party's ideology as the opposite of the Republican Party's: 58% say the Democratic Party is either very liberal or liberal..."[48] In the United States, twice as many liberals as conservatives (46% versus 22%) believe people are born homosexual and liberals generally have more favorable opinions about homosexuality.[49] In recent years, Rupert Murdoch has formed a relationship with the liberals/DemocratsBill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. In 2005, he invited musician Bono and Bill Clinton to a company conference on the environment, Islam in the West, and future of the world.[50]

Rupert Murdoch has been married three times and divorced two times. Before Rupert Murdoch left his second wife, he was anointed as a member of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great, for his "unblemished character."[51]

The Roman Catholic Church's position is that having homosexual desires can be a choice in individuals but having homosexual desires is not a choice in respect to all individuals.[41][52] However, as noted earlier, according to the Vatican individuals should not engage in homosexual acts as they are acts of serious depravity.[41]